Twisted Friends, Loving Brothers
by GingerbreadTARDIS99
Summary: Milly loves hanging out in the woods that surrounds her house. It's where her four best friends live. Call them part of her sick imagination, but they're oh so real. (A short story)


**Okay, so this was originally something I was doing for fun. But with Halloween around the corner, I thought "What the heck. Let's make it a Halloween story!" I admit, it's not all that scary. But it has Slender in it, and that's good enough for me.**

**Another thing I want to talk about is the words "short story" you might have seen in the description. Normally, people would call this a one-shot, but I never considered this to be a novel. Simply, I don't plan to continue the story unless you dear readers convince me otherwise.**

**Okay. Enough talking. Let's get reading!**

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><p>The day was sometime in early March. I was writing down the final draft of my report for English. Since I was at this point copying my second draft with fixed punctuation errors, I let my mind wonder free. Something I couldn't do all the time.<p>

I'm an author and illustrator by heart, so I'm always thinking, always observing. The problem is, my ideas and reasons differ from the rest of the world. It's because of this I usually keep to myself and tell no one my problems and perspectives; they wouldn't understand.

But the brothers are an exception.

I'll get to them later.

While I was thinking about outer space and how I always wanted to walk on the moon, I glanced at my school textbooks. I was briefly reminded how I was doing okay in English, Spanish, and World History, but miserably failing in Biology and Geometry. In my opinion, the school system was flawed.

Everyone has their own special way of learning. Mine doesn't involve the stress of quizzes, tests, exams, and homework. I just research what I want to learn. But alas, the world must think that won't get me into collage. School was slowly draining the life out of me.

I wrote down the final period of my report. Most students would prefer to type, but I enjoy writing. Every letter was rewritten three to four times, giving them a sketchy look them. To top it all off, all the O's were crossed out with X's. You just can't do that on a computer.

I placed my report in a safe place along with my textbooks. Slipping my black leather backpack over my shoulder, I went out the door a plate of leftover pasta in my hands.

I always did this around this time of day...

* * *

><p><em>Amelia sat at the dinner table with her parents. Both where talking about grown-up things that didn't interest her. She stared at her current meal; a simple mixture of noodles and sauce. <em>

_She didn't feel like eating at the moment. She was thinking about…him. The moment Amelia stepped into the woods for the first time since they moved in about a week ago, she always had a feeling someone was watching her. Of course, she didn't think much of it at first. She was, in fact, a very imaginative little girl._

_But it wasn't until just today that her suspicions were proven correct. Amelia was just minding her own business, playing among the trees pretending to be in the magical world of Narnia. But then, she saw him. A white, grown male face with no mouth, no nose, not even a pair of eyes._

_And yet, he was watching her._

_Being the young, naïve girl she was, Amelia didn't run away from this strange sight, let alone become afraid. Instead, she cocked her head to the side as a sign of curiosity. The face did the same, then vanished in thin air. Amelia didn't see him the rest of her time in the woods._

_A thought then occurred to her. What if he was afraid of her? The thought that a strange, probably scary thing would be afraid of a little seven year old girl made her smile a little. It was just like that Dr. Seuss book about the floating, green pants. But then another thought occurred to her. How can she make him not scarred of her?_

"_Amelia," her mother said, breaking into her thoughts. "Have you eaten your dinner?" Amelia then realized that she didn't eat at all the entire time. She, instead, was playing with her food. The young girl stared at her untouched meal._

_Pasta._

_Ignoring everyone and everything around her, Amelia grabbed the plate and went outside into the twilight. Looking around, she suddenly spots a rock a few feet away from the tree line. Perfect. Amelia laid the pasta onto the rock and ran back into the house up to her bedroom, still ignoring her mother scolding her for not finishing her dinner._

_Amelia peered out her bedroom window, having the perfect view of the rock. She watched and waited, hoping he would come. But he didn't. Amelia was forced to go to bed before she could see him receive her gift. The next morning, she went outside to see if her pasta was still there._

_The plate was licked clean._

_Amelia didn't care if her mom scolded her again, this time over attracting raccoons. She needed to know if he ate her pasta. She'll try again tonight._

* * *

><p>...I laid the pasta on a large rock with a slightly flat top, along with a fork and knife. After that, I went on my way into town. Even though it is an average sized town, its noise and activity is almost similar to a city. I always hated the subdivision.<p>

After surviving the speedy vehicles and tying my best to not run into passerbys (I always look down when walking so people won't see me talking to myself), I finally made my way inside a McDonalds, where my best friend was waiting.

Even though she was three years older than me, she too was an author and illustrator. But unlike me, she was more grounded with the rest of the world. She enjoyed driving, hanging out with boys, etc. I _dread_ the idea of driving. My mind always wonders off and I fear that I would get in an accident. One thing I didn't want to get into. Boys? Meh. I always struggled writing romance between boy and girl characters.

We were talking about things only born writers would understand. New characters and continuations of our previous stories were the main subject of our talk while we enjoyed our coffee (well, _she_ did. I'm not fond of it, so I had a coke instead). As we were about to leave, I noticed a young boy about six years of age. His face had a look of some form of sadness.

Normally, I don't just go up to strangers and interact with them. But children are different. I went up to the boy cautiously and gently asked him what his favorite animal was. He looked at me as if I was insane, but quietly answered me. "A dog…" his voice trailed off. I placed my backpack onto the floor, skirmished through the random items, and pulled out a long, blue, deflated balloon. I blew into it and started twisting to create a masterpiece...

* * *

><p><em>Milly watched in awe as she saw the cheerful, grinning entertainer make another balloon animal. She couldn't think of one thing he couldn't create out of the inflatable rubber. It was almost hilarious.<em>

"_What is it, Splendy? What is it?" the little girl asked, trying to contain her excitement. "I'm not done yet! Be patient!" the tall, white man teased. A few more twists and his work was complete. It was a draconequus with a funny-looking wig._

_Milly just stared at it. She honestly didn't know what to think. It looked ridiculous. Finally, Milly couldn't contain her laughter anymore. She fell to the ground and laughed until she couldn't breathe and almost peed in her pants. Splenderman laughed along with her. Watching the little girl give out great amounts of happiness made him want to do the same. They laughed so much they couldn't laugh anymore. All the two could do was sigh happily while lying in a bed of fallen pine needles._

_The little girl rolled onto her belly and turned to the greatest entertainer in the world. "How do you do it, Splendy?" Milly asked. "How can you make all of those things out of balloons?" Splenderman looked up at her with his black eyes. A wide smile grew on his face. The tall man jumped up on his feet and scooped Milly out of the air. She squealed with delight. _

"_You want me to teach you how to make balloon animals?!" he asked her, as if he didn't believe what he was hearing. "Yes! Yes!" Milly chanted. "Teach me, Splendy!" Splenderman, filled with excitement, tossed the little girl into the air before setting her down at pulling out a pink, deflated balloon out of nowhere._

"_Lesson one," he said, stretching it as if it was a rubber band. "How to inflate a balloon…"_

* * *

><p>...It took only a minute or two before I was finished turning the long balloon into a cute, little animal. I gave it to the boy, whose eyes lit up and had a smile on his face. I smiled in return, and headed out the door.<p>

I then went to a Hobby Lobby, which was only two blocks away. I needed a new sketch pad and an India ink pen. While making my way to the sketch books, I passed the fabric isle. Having plenty of time, I decided to glace at a few samples. Some were indeed eye-catching in my perspective. One sample was purple with gold-colored swirls, while another was blue and black with silver stars...

* * *

><p>"<em>What about that one?" asked the tall, white man. He pointed to a picture of a blue t-shirt in a Khloe's catalog. Milly looked at it for a moment before replying with "Eh. Doesn't look right."<em>

_Trenderman sighed a tired sigh. They have been doing this for the past hour and a half. Who knew ten year old girls could be so picky! "Well, what's wrong with it?" he asked, hoping he might figure out what she looks for._

_Milly stared blankly at the catalog, almost if she didn't hear his question. "I don't know," she finally answered. "It just doesn't appeal to me." She closed the catalog and looked up at the faceless man. _

_"Why are we doing this again, Trendy?" Milly asked. Trenderman knew fashion wasn't Milly's favorite thing in the world, but this was necessary, no matter how ridiculous the others thought it was. "Your wardrobe is a mess," he explained. "And I'm trying to help you find new clothes for you to wear."_

_ "What's wrong with my wardrobe?" asked the young girl, displaying her gray t-shirt with butterfly patterns and jeans that went down to the heels. Trenderman observed with his hand on his chin. "It doesn't look like you," he explained. "That's because my mom goes clothes shopping for me," Milly admitted. "I never see anything I like so she buys me shirts and pants and so on and I wear it, no matter if I don't like it."_

_ "Well then _there's_ your problem!" said Trenderman, slapping his hand on his lap. "What is _do_ you like?" Milly thought for a moment. "Well…I like vintage, Victorian, and out-of-this-world." Even though he didn't have a face, Trenderman gave a blank look. This was going to be harder than he thought. The girl saw the discouraged look on her friends "face" and added "I also kind of enjoy casual-like things."_

_ "Alrighty then!" the man said. Now they were going somewhere. He opened up the catalog, skimmed through the pages, and stopped at a picture of a dark pink hoodie. "How about this?" Trenderman asked, pointing at the article of clothing. Milly observed for a moment, then grinned._

_ "Perfect," she said._

* * *

><p>...Since I wasn't a sewer, I didn't stay long with the fabrics. Placing the samples down, I left the isle, found the items I needed, and paid for them at the counter. As I was heading back home (again, avoiding cars and people as best as I could), I stopped at a crosswalk that always took forever to wait for.<p>

While watching vehicles of all shapes and sizes zoom past me, I felt someone tap my shoulder. Turning around, I saw a classmate of mine from Geometry class. He had dark, windblown hair and light brown eyes. I assumed he was wearing his contacts since normally he wore glasses. His attire included a white t-shirt, a gray, fake leather jacket, rip-hole jeans, and black boots.

He looked ridiculous.

"Long time no see, Amelia," he said. He was trying impress me. I wasn't amused. "First of all," I pointed out. "I prefer to be called Milly. Second of all, I just saw you earlier today at school." "Okay, you got me there," said my classmate, raising his hands in the air. They then went straight into his pockets. "I'm in a band, you know. We call ourselves 'The Bloody Snowmen'." "Lovely," I replied, sarcasm dripping from my words.

The Bloody Snowmen? Sounded disgusting! I didn't know him that well, but I knew him well enough. And for one thing, he didn't have a band. He was just saying that because he knows I like music. See, he was interested in me. This was his way of impressing me. And he was horrible at it.

I know better ways to get a lover's attention...

* * *

><p><em>A tall, white man was playing "Radioactive" on the violin. The bow moved back and forth fiercely and his fingers danced rapidly. Next to him was a thirteen year old girl playing next to him. Unlike her teacher, Milly's bow moved slowly, and her fingers danced gracefully. The beautiful duet filled the woods with melody and harmony. Then, it quietly faded.<em>

"_Wonderful, Milly!" Offenderman complemented. "A sour note here and there, but otherwise not bad." The young teen smiled shyly. Her cheeks slightly blushed. "Thanks, Fendy. But I think I could've done better." Milly replied. Offenderman was a better teacher than all her old music teachers were. She didn't want to disappoint him. She knew how it felt to be disappointed by someone else._

"_Don't say that!" Offenderman scolded, moving his index finger left and right at Milly. "You're still learning! There's more in you than you know." "Then why am I still playing harmonies?" asked the teenager, placing her instrument in its case. "Because I like to show off," admitted the tall man. Milly giggled._

"_Now then," said Offenderman, leaning his elbows on a stump. "Now that our lessons are over, we can talk about more important stuff." Milly gave a confused look. "Like what?" she asked. "Boys!" the tall man exclaimed, like she should've known what he was talking about. "Come on now! Every girl your age is interested in them!" "Well," explained the young teen. "You see, Fendy, I—"_

"_First rule!" interrupted Offenderman. "Don't let him know you're interested in him. If you act all fan girl around him, you'll just scare him off. And _trust_ me when I say you'll never get him back! Second rule! Once he starts to notice you, play hard to get. It's easier for a boy to impress a girl than it is the other way around. It might take a while, so be patient. Third rule! If he asks about getting serious, think _long_ and _hard_. Rushed relationships are short ones as well. Take your time! And finally, _regla número cuatro_! Break ups will always hurt. Take your time to recover the loss and receive comfort from family and friends. Unless of course if he is a total jerk, then you can teepee his house in the middle of the night."_

_Milly could only stare at Offenderman blankly with a small grin on her face. "I appreciate your advice Fendy, but I'm not interested in boys right now. I'm going to wait until I'm an adult. But in the meantime, I'll keep your rules in mind." Now it was the tall man's turn to blankly stare at the teen. He clearly wasn't expecting this. He shook it off. "Fine! Fine. If you're not interested, you're not interested. I respect your life choices." While saying this, Offenderman was making his way behind Milly. He then lightly spanked her. "But I'm still giving you love advice," he added with a devious smile._

_There was no way Milly was going to let him get away with that. She reached into her backpack, pulled out a Ping-Pong paddle, and preceded to spank him with it as hard as she could. "Ow!" Offenderman yelped, rubbing his behind. "Don't act cocky around me, Fendy," warned Milly. "I still have my eye on you."_

* * *

><p>..."I've been working on a new song," my classmate continued. "And I was thinking I should write one about you." I don't know why, but something in me snapped. I stared intensely at him, making sure he was paying close attention. Straight as a board, and stern voice, I replied "Listen to me, and listen <em>very <em>closely. You do _not_ have a band, you do _not_ go to the afterschool art class, and furthermore, you did _not_ go camping every summer since we first met eye to eye in first grade. I am not interested in you, and I never will." I then narrowed my eyes and added "Leave. Me. **Alone**."

Something changed in him the moment I finished talking. Something…not good. I didn't stay long to ask what was wrong with him, because the crosswalk light turned green and I continued my way home. I honestly didn't have the patience to be with him anymore. He always did get on my nerves.

The moment I arrived home, I went straight into the woods. My soul was soaring with excitement as I, once again, was going to spend time with the brothers.

Told you I'll get to them.

I ran past the very trees, weeds, and sticks I have passed possibly more than a trillion times. After a minute or two, I arrived at the special place that I and the brothers mostly spent our time together...

* * *

><p><em>It has been a week since Amelia last played in the woods. A week since she saw him. Being grounded for a week simply for not listening was not as easy as she thought. But at least she was able to leave pasta out for him. Amelia really needed to learn how to make it herself though. Her mom wasn't all that excited about making pasta every day.<em>

_She ran through the trees, holding her arms out like a bird. Giggles echoes throughout the eerie silence. Amelia's imagination was free!_

_Until it ran away in fear and confusion._

_Amelia almost didn't believe what she was seeing. A slide, a merry-go-round, a teeter-totter, and a swing set just stood there quietly in a small clearing. A playground. In the middle of the woods. At first, Amelia could only stare at it. Then, she ran straight to the swings, quietly giggling to her favorite playground equipment._

_All day, she played on the playground. She didn't pay attention to how long she was gone. She honestly didn't care. When she was done playing, she turned around to the exit._

_There he was. Standing there. Staring at Amelia with no eyes to his name. He was tall. Very tall. A weird, unsettling energy came off him. She still wasn't afraid._

_Well, maybe a little bit._

_After a few moments of nerve-racking silence, Amelia heard a voice in her head. _You are welcome to enter these woods as much as you please,_ the voice said. _Splendorman would be very fond of you._ Then the tall man disappeared._

_Wait._

_There are more of them?_

_Did…did he just…_talk_ to her?_

* * *

><p>...It's a small playground in the middle of the forest. All of the equipment appears to be from the Fifties and are covered in brown rust. The slide, see-saw, and merry-go-round have long been beyond repair, but at least the swings are safe. I sat down on the only safe piece of playground equipment and rocked myself slightly. A gentle wind was blowing, creating the soft melody of rustling leaves. I closed my eyes, soaking in the peaceful atmosphere.<p>

POP! Rainbow-colored confetti fell from the sky like rain and I heard the blaring of a party horn. Out of nowhere, one of the brothers jumped out of his unknown hiding spot and gave me a childish pose.

His name is Spendorman, but I prefer to call him Splendy. He is extremely tall with long limbs and white skin with a slight tint of pale, just like his other brothers. His eyes are no more than two black dots and his mouth is twice as long as it should be. His attire reminds me a lot of a magician; he wears a black top hat with a bright red stripe, a black suit with rainbow-colored polka-dots, bright red collar and tie, white shirt, and black shoes. He smiled at me with his biggest, toothy smile with a dark red party horn in his right hand.

"Hey there, Milly!" he said happily, his voice resembling that of a cartoon character. "Hi Splendy," I replied, cracking a grin. He never failed to make me smile. Splendy reached into his sleeves and pulled out a stack of cards and a handkerchief. More like a million handkerchiefs. They were all tied together and it seemed like an eternity until they were all out of his suit. "Heh, heh. I forgot about that," he explained, blushing with embarrassment. My only response was a giggle.

Because I too was an entertainer, Splendy was never afraid to show me his new tricks. Of course, not _all_ of them. Every entertainer needs to have his secrets. I would learn a few tricks on my own, but they don't compare to Splendy's. "What are the cards for?" I asked, curious. He stared at me like I was crazy at first, then he remembered and showed me the deck. Presented before me were numbers from one to nine, the letters K, Q, and J, shapes of aces, hearts, clubs, and diamonds, and illusional pictures of men and women dressed in crowns and robes. Before I knew it, the entire deck turned itself over, revealing its plain blue back.

"Pick a card! Any card!" Splendy said, sounding like a sideshow performer. I scanned over the cards, until I chose one near my right. "Take a quick look and put it back," he explained. I did what he said. Three of spades. I returned the card to its rightful place and Splendy began to shuffle the deck. That is, until he slipped up and the cards flew all over the playground. I giggled once again. "Oops," Splendy said quietly, and began looking at the fallen cards. He looked puzzled.

"That's odd," he said. "I don't see your card anywhere. Wait! Hold it!" He reached into his mouth and pulled out a bend card covered in Splendy saliva. "Ewww! Gross! Splendy!" I managed to say between laughs. I have a really weird sense of humor. As if he was grossed out by his own spit, Splendy cautiously unfolded the card and held it at a reasonable distance to me. "Is this your card?" he asked. I couldn't believe my eyes.

It was a three of spades.

"Yes!" I said, amazed. "How did you do that?" "A magician never reveals his secrets," he answered in a sly way. I clapped my hands in approval. "Excellent job, Splendy," I said. "You were amazing. Oh, and Fendy?"

I looked straight up and saw the face of Offenderman. Fendy for short. Like Splendy, he has a mouth, but his teeth are razor sharp, and he has no eyes. He wore a gray fedora on his head, and even though I couldn't see the rest of him, I knew he was also wearing a gray, unbuttoned drench coat, black pants, and black boots. He looked at me as if I caught him off guard.

"Don't even think about it."

"What?!" Fendy said, trying to act innocent. His voice was rich and seducive. "I wasn't going to do anything!" My response was a glare that read as "Not buying it, bro". "Oh come on!" Fendy complained. "What ever happened to 'innocent until proven guilty'?!" "You know there's a reason why they call you Offenderman, right?" I remarked.

Indeed, there is. Fendy's full name is Sexual Offenderman and that's all I'm going to say about him for his sake. Out of all of the brothers, he was the last one I felt comfortable with. It wasn't until three years ago that he finally gained my trust after he proved he would never do anything hurtful toward me. However, if he does something naughty, I punish him with a Ping-Pong paddle. And that's what he's doing right now: acting naughty.

Defeated, Fendy sat down on the swing next to me, even though it was way too small for his size. "Alright. You got me. I was going to give you a wedgie." "And why would you want to give me a wedgie?" I asked, slightly interested because I knew he was lying. "Because you're too darn cleaver!" he answered, with an angry tone. I knew he wasn't angry with me, he was angry with himself for letting his guard down like that. He tries, he really tries, but he does have his moments when he slips.

To distract him from his frustrations, I reached into my backpack and pulled out some violin sheet music. The first page was entitled "Who We Are". "Here," I said, as I held out the sheet music. "I got this for you. I know how much you like Imagine Dragons." My plan worked, because he took it and said "Thanks. I can't wait to play it."

"What is wrong with all of you?!" said a slightly cockney-accented voice who spoke right behind me. The two of us jumped in our seats and turned to see who it was. Trenderman, also known as Trendy. He wore a pair of glasses with black frames, a white T-shirt, a light brown sweater, indigo pants, and dark brown shoes. He had his hands on his hips and although he doesn't have a face, I could tell he was annoyed.

"Nice to see you too, Trendy," I replied back with no response. Trendy can be rude like that, but I didn't mind. I'd grown used to it. "What do you mean what's wrong with us?" Fendy asked, just as annoyed as his fashion-freak brother. "Your outfits are hideous!" Trendy explained. Even though he didn't have a mouth, he talked just like anyone else.

Don't ask me how that works because I'm still trying to figure it out.

Trendy pointed at his entertaining brother and said "Splendor's especially, but I don't know where to begin with him!" Splendy, who was picking up his cards, looked up and said "Did you say something?" Trendy ignored him and turned to face Fendy. "And as for _you,_ Offender, you've worn that for as long as I can remember! Don't you ever update your wardrobe?" "Hey!" Fendy protested, grabbing the collar of his trench coat. "I like my coat! Do you have any idea who gave this to me, Trender?!" "Don't know, don't care," Trendy simply answered. Fendy held on to his precious coat tighter while giving his brother a scowl. "Fine," Trendy whined. "The coat stays. But the fedora has to go." Fendy now held his hat down onto his head. "Not my fedora!" While all of this was happening, I was laughing to myself. Their arguments were something very amusing.

But Trendy wasn't done yet. I was my turn to hear his criticism. The moment he laid eyes on me, he sighed heavily and shook his head. "Milly!" he said as if he was disappointed. "I can't believe you wore that today!" "What? What's wrong with it?" I asked, presenting my outfit. My overall appearance was a white T-shirt, black and gray striped hoodie, black rip-hole jeans, and gray sneakers. "I thought you told us yesterday that you were visiting your friend." Trendy said. "I did," I replied. "Hey, that's right!" Splendy piped in, holding half of his deck of cards. "How is she?" I managed to open my mouth to reply before Trendy interrupted once more.

"You don't wear 'I'm-staying-at-home' clothes when you're meeting up with a friend in a public area! It's not polite!" he scolded. "You're starting to sound like my mother," I remarked under my breath. The three brothers must of heard me because Trendy looked insulted while Splendy and Fendy were snickering. Trendy isn't exactly fond of my mom to say at least. To be quite honest, I don't understand why. Like Trendy, my mom is a fashion bully and I can't leave the house without her telling me to change my outfit because of who-knows-what. Maybe it's because he doesn't like the idea of her stealing his gig or something.

I managed to add onto my previous statement before Trendy could chew me out about referring him to my mother once again. "Hey! Listen! It was either this or something from the dirty laundry pile! At least I have the decency to not show up to my friend smelling like crap!" "Aren't you old enough now to do your own laundry?!" Trendy asked in a slight mocking tone. "I am!" I snapped back, really getting into the argument for some reason I don't remember. "It's just the dryer enjoys taking its own sweet time!" Trendy repeated my last sentence in a low mocking tone and using his hand as a puppet while he was speaking. Splendy was trying real hard not to laugh into hysterics.

Oh it was payback time.

Just when I was about to say something that would probably end up with me and Trendy wrestling on the ground and him screaming about dirt all over his sweater (believe me, it was happened more than once with Fendy), I finally noticed that he normally didn't wear glasses. Why that didn't occur to me before is a mystery.

"Since when did you start wearing glasses?" I asked, ending our short yet heated argument. Even though Trendy looked like he wanted to argue for hours on end, he seemed more than relieved to end it. "My eyesight isn't as great as it used to be," he explained, straitening his lens. "Says the guy who doesn't have a face," I remarked. If Trendy had a face, he would have lowered his eyebrows, I just knew it. "If I tried explaining my complicated biology, you wouldn't understand a word of it," he said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. "You're right. I probably wouldn't," I replied, causing Trendy to give a look of surprise. "But I don't like them."

"What's not to like?" he asked. "These are Ray Ban Eyeglasses: Designer Optics Edition." "Only at Lens Crafters!" Fendy butted in, making fun of his older brother. Splendy finally lost it. I only stared at Trendy, as if I was the only one who thought Trendy wearing glasses was kind of sad. "It makes you look old," I answered quietly. At that moment, everyone went quiet. Even Splendy stopped laughing, his always-there smile completely gone. Trendy looked at me with a hurt expression before removing his lens entirely.

_And I thought you four were never going to stop arguing, _resonated a deep, unnatural voice in my mind.

At that very second, I felt a disturbing, paranormal, yet familiar energy fill the air. I turned my gaze to the source of the energy. Standing right at the edge of the playground, between the trees, stood the tallest, and the oldest of the brothers. He had no face to call his own. His suit was black as pitch darkness and he wore a blood red tie. He stood straight as a pole and still as a statue. To top it all off, he was dead silent, making his presence unsettling. Staring at me for a good thirty seconds, he finally walked up to me until there were only inches of space between us. I practically looked straight up in order to see his face (or lack thereof).

_Hello Amelia, _he said.

"Hello Slenderman," I simply replied back.

_Are you ready to continue drawing?_

"Yes."

_Good. Get your things and follow me._

With that, I grabbed my bag and I followed Slenderman deep into the woods until we were in an isolated area where only he himself would know about. Out of all the brothers, Slenderman is my favorite. He was the first one out of the four who I met. The problem is, while Fendy and Trendy take some time to get used to and Splendy likes everyone, Slenderman…well…let me put it this way. Trendy, Fendy, and Splendy feel like the uncles everyone in the world would want to have. Slenderman feels like the distant father who you barely know and he doesn't do anything to make the relationship feel closer. I respect that about him, but I try not to think about it too much.

I never even bothered calling him Slendy.

Upon arriving, I sat under a tree and Slenderman gave me my notebook and pencil from out of nowhere. I looked up at the diming sky, waiting for an idea to come to my head, and then began sketching a pine tree. Slenderman watched me from a distance, giving an uncomfortable stare. I admit, I'm not the greatest artist in the world. In fact, I would compare my work to a child's drawing. But sometimes, something simple as what I'm doing is just enough to get the point across. Thinking back on it, I could've done better.

Before I knew it, my drawing was complete. On the left was a sketchy pine tree, in the middle was a rough sketch of Slenderman, and on the right was the word "FOLLOWS" written in my style and downwards like Chinese. I then continued to draw three more pictures. One was another pine tree with the words "LEAVE ME ALONE" written around it, one was a horrible sketch of Slenderman surrounded by pine trees, and the last one was Slenderman simply standing with the word "NO" repeated twelve times; six were on his left and the other six were on his right.

I decided to take a little break and looked at previous pictures I drew a few days ago. One was a tiny stick figure of Slenderman in the bottom right corner with the words "DON'T LOOK…OR IT TAKES YOU" taking up the entire page, one was a circle with X's for eyes with the words "ALWAYS WATCHES" written on top and the words "NO EYES" written on the bottom, while the rest were just words. One said "CAN'T RUN" while the other said "HELP ME".

If anyone else saw these drawings, they would of thought I had completely lost it. For that reason, I asked Slenderman to keep the notebook so no one would find it. I wasn't keeping it at my house, for it wasn't the first time someone questioned my sanity...

* * *

><p><em>Milly hummed to herself as the lead of the pencil created rough yet elegant lines on the paper. Drawing was one of her favorite pass times, especially when it was raining out and she was forced to stay inside. The gentle fall of water hitting the roof and window formed a rhythmic melody. Milly enjoyed the calm atmosphere of her bedroom. Before long, the picture was complete. It was a drawing of Slenderman standing, his figure thin, tall, mysterious, and creepy. Black tentacles sprouted from his back and were reaching out toward the observer. Milly gave a wide grin, satisfied with the final result. All of a sudden, there was a knock at the door.<em>

"_Milly?" said the voice of her mother. "Can I come in?" Milly watched in horror as the doorknob began to turn without the thirteen year old's permeation. "Crud!" she whispered, as she tried her best to hide the picture under her sheets. She only managed to hide nine tenths of it before her mother opened the door wide open. "Hi mom!" Milly said, trying not to sound panicked. Her mother walked into the room and sat down next to her daughter on the bed._

"_You've been in your room all day," her mom said, even though it sounded like a complaint. "Why don't you come downstairs? Dad will be home with dinner from New China Buffet." "No thanks," Milly answered. "I think I'll stay up here." She didn't feel comfortable drawing the brothers in front of her parents. Her mom gave a concerned look. "Do you feel okay?" she asked. "I'm fine mom!" Milly whined. "I'll be coming down to eat and I need to make pasta anyways." Her mother gave a frustrated sigh. Then, she raised an eyebrow, seeing something that caught her eye._

"_What's this?" she asked, reaching for the notebook. Panicked, Milly tried blocking her mother away from the forbidden picture. "It's nothing mom. Really," she said hastily. But her mother didn't listen. She grabbed hold of the exposed notebook and began pulling it out of its hiding spot. "Mom, I said it's—"_

_But it was too late._

_Her mother's neutral expression changed into one of shock, horror, and disturbance. This was clearly not her daughter's normal works of art. "Milly…what is that?" she asked, though it sounded more like a command. Milly _really _didn't want to answer, but she knew that any other attempt to avoid the subject would be fruitless._

"_That's Slenderman," she answered, keeping it simple and daring herself to not tell her what he's capable of doing. Her mother stared at the picture a few seconds more until she couldn't any longer and turned the page, only to find more pictures of the monster and his younger brothers. All of them had a disturbing quality to them as if it was artwork for a horror movie. After looking at every single picture, Milly's mother finally saw enough and said "I'll be in the living room."_

_Later that night, Milly could her parents talking in the living room through her bedroom air vent. She couldn't hear the conversation all that well, but she did catch a few things. "Mental problem", "psychiatrist", and "worried" were the most dominate. She didn't care they now thought she could possibly be insane. As long as they didn't believe the brothers were real, she was perfectly fine._

_However, she needed to hide the drawings._

* * *

><p>..."I think these will be enough," I said to myself, giving one of the pages of my notebook a perfect, clean tear. As I was tearing, I noticed Slenderman was standing under the same tree I was sitting under. He looked disturbed.<p>

And _nothing_ disturbs the Slenderman.

"I don't really think that about you," I reassured, hoping that would be enough. There was a pause before Slenderman replied with _I know that, Amelia. Nothing in this world scares you. It's just your drawings look like something my victims would draw themselves…_ I decided to wait until I was done tearing to start talking again.

The woods the brothers live in might be government property, but Slenderman is the true owner. He doesn't like trespassers in his forest, and he's not the most merciful person in the world. Anyone who becomes the victim of the Slenderman are never seen or heard of again.

And trust me when I say you're better off not knowing.

Even though I've known the brothers since I was seven, I still don't know why Slenderman never took me as one of his victims. Not even Splendy, Fendy, and Trendy know for sure. But of course, I'm a human being. I'm not a cold-hearted soul. If anything, I'll always be the one who'll give the homeless man on the side of the street a few bucks. The thought of someone going through what Slenderman does to them creates a pit in my stomach. These drawings are more than just disturbing pictures.

They're warning signs.

Slenderman seemed rather amused with the idea of pictures that would make a person have second thoughts about entering his woods and told me I was allowed to draw them and place them anywhere I wanted in the forest. Now it seemed he was having second thoughts. Once the last page was torn, I bundled them up together into a pile and stood up onto my feet.

"If you don't want me to place the pictures in the woods, I don't have—"

_It's fine Amelia. Your drawings just caught me off guard. I'll get used to them._

"Okay then. If you say so. Let's go to the large rock."

With that, I held Slenderman's large, slender hand and we teleported to our destination. I taped the first page onto the rock. We teleported to seven more locations until all eight pages were in areas where people will most likely find them. Afterwards, we began to take a stroll.

"When I was with your brothers, how long were you standing there?"

_Pretty much the whole time._

"But I didn't feel your presence."

_I choose when to make my presence known._

"I guess _that_ makes sense."

_You say Trenderman's glasses make him look old. Do you really think so?_

"Yeah. It makes me sad."

_Why?_

"I don't like it when things change. One of my friends will be in collage next year, another one of my friends moved to Florida a month ago, my grandma isn't doing well—"

_And you think me, Trenderman, Offenderman, and Splendorman don't change?_

"I always thought you guys were immortal or something."

_Everything has a beginning, and everything has an end, Amelia. We indeed age, but not like you humans do._

"Yeah, I know. But, can you really imagine me being a mother someday?"

…_No. I can't._

Our stroll ended there and I began to head back home. Even though I knew these woods like the back of my hand, I had a hard time finding my way due to the darkness of the coming night. Eventually, I came across my house.

And someone was waiting for me.

I'd completely forgot that my parents were going to be gone for the night. I had let a complete stranger wander around on my property. But it wasn't a stranger. It was my classmate. Remember when I said that something inside him changed? Well, he looked like a total mess! From what I could make out, he took a shower, threw a tantrum, and stayed awake for a full week. But then I noticed he was now wearing a black muscle shirt and his jeans were super loose. In his hands was an almost empty bottle of liquor.

I didn't need to be Albert Einstein to know this situation wasn't good.

"Hey there, Milly!" he said, his speech slurred. "Long time no see!" "What are you doing at my house?" I asked cautiously. He stared at me confused at first, then dunked the rest of the liquid in his bottle down his throat. "I understand you're not interested in me," he explained. "I really do understand." I doubted his claim. "But something wasn't settling right so…" He pressed his lips against the bottle top and drank the inexistent drink. After he was finished, his eyes became intense. "…if you won't love me by will…" His face became twisted with rage. Gritting through his teeth, he completed his sentence with "…**Then you will love me by force!**"

Immediately, I made a 360 degree turn and dashed into the woods with my classmate close behind. I had to lose him, for only heaven knows _what _he'll do to me. I wasn't the fastest person in the world, nor the most athletic, so there was only one other option.

I had to scare him off.

The only thing I could possibly think of was running past the pages, hoping he would notice them and have second thoughts about hurting me. But after passing three, I knew he wasn't stopping for anything. I began screaming at the top of my lungs. "HELP! SOMEONE! PLEASE! HELP ME!" Screaming was doing more harm than good, as I was losing my breath much quicker. Eventually, I tripped, and my classmate tackled on top of me. He turned me so I was lying on my back and held me down so I could barely move. "HELP! HE—UUMMFF!" I screamed before he covered my mouth his hand. He leaned closer to my face, sneering and his breath smelled like alcohol. "You should of never said 'no' to me," he hissed. He unzipped by jeans ,grabbed hold of the edge, and began pulling on it.

Then a shadow loomed over us.

Inside, I smiled with relief. Someone had come to my rescue! But the big question was who? My classmate began to look up…up…up until he was practically looking straight up. It was one of the brothers! But which one?

His eyes widened.

Not Splendy.

His face turned white.

Not Trendy.

He screamed a blood-curling scream.

Slenderman.

Scared to death, my classmate crab-walked away from me, until to trip on his own hands a few feet away. Out of nowhere, Slenderman appeared in front of both me and him, his energy even more terrifying than before. For the first time in my life, I was scared of Slenderman. But my classmate was even more terrified. I could hear him sobbing with fear. Finally, the Slenderman spoke.

_Don't you _**dare** _do that to her ever again._ His voice was surprisingly calm. A pause, then Slenderman's limbs grew taller and his tentacles were unleashed, wriggling in the air like ripples of water. Everything in the woods grew a billion times darker. He leaned in close to my classmate and screamed with such power, fury, and darkness, that I closed my eyes covered my ears in fear.

_LEAVE __**NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!**_ The scream ended with a blast of loud static.

I don't recall how long I must of stayed there, curled up in a ball on the ground scared to death from what I experienced in the last few minutes. But eventually, I felt someone pick me up and place me on my feet, even though I didn't feel like I had the strength to stand. I dared to open my eyes to see who it was.

It was Slenderman.

He looked like his normal self again at least, but he seemed very concerned. He pulled up my jeans a bit higher than they needed to be, and re-zipped my zipper. My only reaction to his actions was a blank stare. _Amelia?_ He asked.

What happened next came out of nowhere.

I hugged Slenderman. Extremely tight. And dared not to let go. I didn't care if he wasn't a hugger either. I needed someone to hold. I also cried. Oh how I cried. I soaked his shoulder in my tears. I had no control over it, so there was nothing I could do. Of course, I expected Slenderman to push me away and tell me to save that for Splendor or something on the lines of that.

But he didn't.

Instead, he hugged me back.

It was an awkward hug, but I didn't mind.

Again, I had no idea how long I cried on his shoulder and he stroked through my short, straight black hair.

When I could cry no more, I opened my eyes and saw Splendy, holding a bright red balloon with a worried look on his face. I managed to give a convincing smile as I received the thoughtful gesture. Splendy, in return, smiled with relief. With that, I finally had enough courage to let Slenderman go. When I did so, I noticed Trendy and Fendy were there with us.

"Did he…?" Fendy asked nervously. I could tell he couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. I spared him the struggle by shaking my head. Fendy sighed with relief. "You might want to start wearing this though," Trendy said, holding out a white leather belt with a silver buckle. "Heh, heh. I'll try," I replied, receiving the gift. "Did you even know him?" Splendy asked, his smile gone and replaced with a stern frown. "He goes to my school," I answered. "I never liked him though." Splendy's frown deepened. "I don't like him either," he simply remarked.

Believe me when I say when Splendorman dislikes someone, that's the equivalent of everyone else hating that same person with every essence of their being.

"Even _I_ thought that was low," Fendy added. "At least I allow my victims to choose to doom themselves or not." "He is _definitely_ not getting away with that," Trendy remarked. I had never seen him so worked up over something that had nothing to do with fashion. Splendy then turned his attention back to me and said "Don't worry about him anymore, Milly." "You _will_ be avenged," said Fendy. It was at that moment I realized how much they really cared for me.

"Thanks guys," I said.

To them, that meant more than a million words.

_I'll take you home Amelia, _said Slenderman. Taking hold of my hand, he walked me back to my house. Upon reaching the tree line, I stopped and looked up at Slenderman.

"I just have this one question."

_What is it?_

"When you first saw me, in the woods, why did you...you know…"

There was a moment of silence as if the Slenderman himself wondered that as well.

_…I had never met anyone who wasn't afraid of me at first sight. I was curious at first. Now…now I wish you could stay small forever…_

I smiled up at him. "I guess that's what memories are for."

He turned his head so I would be in his gaze. He stared at me at first, then I knew he smiled back.

"Goodnight, Slendy." My eyes widened. "I mean—"

_Goodnight to you as well, Milly._

He _never _called me Milly.

I smiled once more, then entered inside my house. I didn't even bother turning on the lights. Upon arriving to my bedroom, I remembered the pasta I laid out a few hours ago. I ran to my window, and there I saw Slendy walking back into the woods with my plate of pasta in his hands.

I smiled wider, knowing the answer to a nine yearlong question.

Exhausted from everything that had happened to me, I lied down on my bed and closed my eyes. Before I fell into a deep sleep, a thought occurred to me.

How does a faceless man eat pasta?

* * *

><p><strong>Oh! One more thing!<strong>

**HAPPY HALLOWEEN!**


End file.
